Hey everyone! I have a really exciting announcement to make! I’ve been working on my first novel off and on for 7 years now. Up until this year, I’d write for a couple of weeks, then I’d take a couple of years off. I finally decided this year that I was going to finish my first draft.

I made a goal to finish by the end of this year. I started out strong by tackling my first writing event, Camp NaNoWriMo in July. I set my goal for 20,000 words, and I hit it! Afterwards, I took August off to relax from writing (keep in mind, I hadn’t written anything in a couple of years and I lost motivation a lot, so 20,000 in one month was a huge accomplishment for me). Then work got crazy busy starting in September. I’ve been working 50-60 hours every week since the beginning of that month, and I’m still getting about that many hours even now! I was exhausted, and the last thing I wanted to do after typing for 12 hours at work (I do date entry) was come home and type some more.

I pushed off finishing my novel, and I thought I wouldn’t achieve my goal of finishing by the end of 2017. Luckily, work started slowing down just a little, we got a new person hired and trained, and we have a limit for how many hours we can work in overtime each day now, so I actually started getting a little more rest in about halfway through November.

I put in a writing session or two, and I finally got myself to a point in my story where I knew what direction I was going from there. I was also very close to the end, so I knew just one or two more sessions and I’d be able to complete it.

This past Wednesday, November 29, I sat down with the intention of writing until I finished my novel. I typed 3,200 words that session, and I did it! The first draft of my first novel has officially been written!! It currently sits just shy of 61,500 words.

I started this novel in November of 2010. I finished 7 years and 1 week after the first time I wrote down a scene that randomly came to me and excitedly sent it to my mom to see if it was any good. I am beyond excited for this day! I know I still have a lot of work to do. I wrote down many notes and scenes I want to change or add as I was writing, so my first round of edits will mostly be making those changes.

After that first round, I think it will officially be time to let someone read my book. I’m nervous just thinking about that, but I’m also so excited to have a finished story that someone can read.

Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way! My closest loved ones have been amazing. And the #turtlewriters group on Twitter is probably my favorite thing I’ve gotten from this experience so far. They are so supportive and just wonderful people! I don’t think I would’ve gotten this far without them. ❤